New Beginnings
by Chi Midori
Summary: Anne sat down at the head of the table and leaned forward on her elbows. “Last night, while you all were out I was watching the video feed being received from the camera that Sally and her team had placed earlier that day. What I saw was not promising.
1. Prologue

New Beginnings

Prologue 

The year is After Colony 202. It had been six years since the Barton Foundation Incident, and the Gundams were self detonated.

Duo and Quatre were walking down the halls of the Preventer Base in their uniforms. They were on their way to meet Sally. She has said that she had a job for them to do.

Finally the pair reached Sally's office. Quatre knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Came Sally's voice from the opposite side. The two ex-gundam pilots entered to office. Sally was perched on the side of her desk while their three comrades; Heero, Trowa, and Wufei leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

"So what's up Sal?" Duo asked, walking into the office.

"Well like I said I have a job for the five of you." She began. "Five new people have enlisted with the Preventers. One had joined the Alliance Military during the war. Out of the other four, two were in the police. One a SWAT leader, the other a talented street patrol. The other two were negotiators. All of them have been trained in combat and know how to use the Leo, Aries, and the Cancer."

"What does this have to do with us?" Trowa asked.

"I want you five to show them the ropes. Possibly show them Mercreus and Vayeight. They'll be arriving next week."

"Um by chance are these people chicks?" Duo asked.

"Duo I wish you wouldn't use that term." Sally sighed rubbing her forehead. "But yes they are female. The reason I chose you five is because you're about the same age as them and I just felt like bugging you." She added with a smirk.

"Ever so grateful." Heero mumbled.

"Hey if you guys don't want to do it, I will." Duo offered. "Gives me a chance to work the old Shinigami charm."

The plane that flew towards the Preventer Headquarters a week later was less than half full with a total of only 5 passengers.

A young woman in a Military uniform sat near the middle of the small aircraft her dark, almost chestnut brown, hair tied up into a tight bun. Dark sunglasses covered her eyes as she silently read a biography on Field Marshal Noventa. Looking up from her book, she took off her sunglasses and looked out the window, the light from the sun reflecting off her deep violet eyes.

"Welcome home Chi." She mumbled to herself, resting a hand on the window.

Cleopatra Nekoheron rolled her eyes when she heard the younger woman beside her sigh yet again.

"What is your problem Heiwa?!" She demanded, glaring at the brunette.

"I am so BORED!" The brunette in question whined. "Are we there yet?"

"For the tenth time no."

"Are we there now?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"NO!" The blonde yelled causing the other three women to look back at them. Blushing, Cleo slid down in her chair and glared at the woman next to her.

Snickering quietly, Heiwa pulled out a diskman and put the headphones, blocking out all other noise.

"What was that about?" Ally Korwasky asked her blue haired companion.

"Who knows."

"The brunette seems rather young don't you think?"

"I'd say about your age, maybe a bit older. You youngin'" The blue haired woman said with a small smirk.

"No need to bring that up, Meiko." Ally said with a small smile.

"We all look rather young in here." Meiko said quietly.

"Well Miss Une did say that the Preventers were looking for young able bodied people. I guess we fit the description."

"True..."

About an hour later the small plane landed at the Preventer Headquarters in London. Almost silently the five women stood up.

At the back, Heiwa was collecting her things from the overhead bin, when out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something. Turning to investigate further she barely had a chance to stifle the gasp that worked its way from her lungs.

"No way... it couldn't be her." She whispered

"Heiwa, you okay?" Cleo asked. No answer. "Senshi!"

"Huh? Oh sorry Cleo. What's up?"

"You okay?"

"Uh, yeah. I just thought I saw someone who looked familiar is all." The young woman said with a shrug of her shoulders. "That woman in the middle, she sorta looks like my best friend from before the war. Threw me for a loop y'know?"

"What happened to her, if you don't mind me asking."

"No clue." Senshi said sadly, handing Cleo her backpack. "Haven't heard from her since she left to join the Alliance. She's probably dead. She's the type to be out in the thick of things."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too."

Ally and Meiko had already gathered their belongings and were making their over to a waiting van where Lucrezia Noin and Sally Po greeted them.

"Miss Kiyomori, Miss Korwasky. Pleasure seeing you again." Lucrezia greeted, shaking the younger women's hands. "We just have to wait for the others." She added, motioning to the plane.

"Of course." Meiko said with a small nod, dropping her small messenger bag on the ground.

A minute later the woman from the middle of the plane exited, followed shortly after by Cleo and Senshi.

"We'll make the introductions quick. We would like all of you to meet Meiko Kiyomori. She was a negotiator from Finland. Ally Korwasky, a negotiator from Switzerland. Cleo Nekoheron, a SWAT leader based out of Tokyo. Senshi Heiwa, a patrol officer also based out of Tokyo, and Chi Midori, member of the Japanese Military, based out of Kyoto."

Senshi blinked a few times before she flew into action and practically jumped on Chi. "IT IS YOU!!!" She screeched, practically squeezing the life out of her childhood friend. "I thought you were DEAD!" She cried, tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks.

Chi laughed, wiping the tears off her friends face. "It'd take more than a war to kill me Sen, you should know that."

"Right now, I'm going to make the obvious assumption that those two know each other." Sally stated.

"I'd have to agree with you there Miss Po." Meiko chuckled, watching the reunion with a small smile.

"We really should be going." Lucrezia suggested, opening the driver side door.

The others quickly agreed, tossed their bags into the trunk and piled into the van.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One 

"Hey, this place is pretty nice." Ally commented, as she peeked around a door. "Oops, that's someone's bedroom." She said, blushing.

Lucrezia chuckled at the younger woman. "Technically these are the officer's quarters. However, since have better track records, not to mention skills than most of the officers here, you get the perks." She explained.

"Neat. I feel special now."

Lucrezia smiled at her. "Well here's your room." She announced as she unlocked her door. "Oh, you'll have two other roommates other than yourselves. I think Anne said it's Otamajakushi and Akuma, but don't quote me on that. Either way they should be back by four."

"We'll leave you to get settled in. One of us will be by in about an hour to give you the tour." Sally said, and she and Lucrezia left.

Almost an hour later Cleo looked around the room that she and 6 other women would be sharing. Most still looked rather boring and institutional except for the area at the end of the room where the two unknown women had claimed their posts.

Most of her things were in boxes still on the plane, along with the other's things. Only the things they had been able to shove into their backpacks and overnight bag proved that there were more than two women living in the room.

Pictures of Ally, Meiko and Senshi's families sat atop their night tables. Chi had placed a fuzzy looking pink pillow with flowers and happy faces on it in the middle of her bed, and a picture of her much younger self with Senshi and a boy Cleo didn't recognize. Cleo hadn't bothered to ask, as Chi had place the picture down with a look of much longing. The blonde figured it was a subject she shouldn't as about.

A sharp knock at the door practically hurled Cleo back into reality as Ally who was closest went to go answer.

"Hey you guys." Sally greeted when the door was opened. "You ready to go?"

The others nodded and followed the former major out the door.

"This building here is the Hangar." Sally stated motioning to the large non-descript building. "Obviously, this is where we keep different models of Mobile Suits, as well as repair them. The Vice Foreign Minister wasn't too happy when she found out that we had them, but unfortunately, they're needed."

"I can understand both of your sentiments." Meiko said with a small smile as she followed Sally into the building. "Miss Relena and the other Ministers worked very hard to ban the mobile suits, but they are needed. Like if there was a situation where the rebel group the Preveters were fighting had one, or many."

"Exactly." Sally said with a wink, her hand resting on the handle of the door next to her. "Be warned, it's about to get really loud."

With a great heave on Sally's part, the door creaked open, and a catacophny of noise assulted them. Sally lead them over to where most of the noise was coming from and yelled up to a man wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt, and cargo pants.

"HOWARD!!!" Sally yelled up to the man. He didn't hear her. Rolling her eyes, she picked up a battery from the floor and chucked it at the man.

"Sally! Good to see you!" Howard yelled down, finally noticing the group. "What can I do for you?"

"I need to borrow the guys for a couple of hours."

"Right now!?" Howard demanded.

"Yes right now."

Sighing, Howard disappeared from sight. About five minutes later he reappeared, five young men with him.

"Thanks Howie!" Sally yelled after him.

"Ladies, these fine specimens of male perfection – body wise anyways – are our top pilots. This here..." She said pointing to messy haired brunette next to her. "Is Heero Yuy."

"Hiya, I'm Duo Maxwell." The braided brunette next to Heero greeted.

"Trowa Barton." The tallest of the group, with mahogany bangs covering half his face stated.

"Quatre Winner, pleasure." The blonde greeted.

"Chang Wufei." The Chinese man said.

"Pleasure to meet you all." Ally smiling at the men.

"Guys..." Sally began, as she turned to the men. "These ladies are the new recruits I told you about last week. From left to right they are Cleo Nekoheron, Meiko Kiyomori, Chi Midori, Senshi Heiwa, and Ally Korwasky."

"Charmed I'm sure." Wufei muttered rolling his eyes. Quatre shot him a reproving look and kicked him lightly in the ankle.

"Well we should get moving. I have to return these by three or Howard will have my head." Sally stated, motioning absent-mindedly to the guys. "It'll go faster if we split up so... Cleo, Heero, Trowa and Senshi you can be one group. Ally, Wufei, Meiko and Quatre can be another, Duo, Chi and I will be the last."

Duo waited until the other groups were gone to fling his arms over Chi and Sally's shoulders. "I think we should go to the east hangar." He stated, shooting Sally a dazzling smile.

Sally chuckled and rolled her eyes at the man. "If you say so Duo." She said, leading the pair to the hangar that held the Mercreus, Veigheight, and the Taurus'.

"Have you ever piloted one of these Chi?" Duo asked, looking up at the Taurus' towering form.

"You bet I have!" Chi exclaimed, circling the Taurus' large black leg, running her fingers gently over the metal. "I sorta 'borrowed' one from an OZ soldier back in the day. Beautiful machines, but my favorites are the Red Cancer and the Aries."

"We have a couple of those in the next hangar." Sally told her.

"Really?" Chi asked, her face alight with excitement. "Do you think we could go see them afterwards?"

"Sure. Actually, that's where we were headed anyways. So we should get going."

Duo could help but laugh at Chi when the two of them and Sally entered a room full of Leos, Aries, and Cancers five minutes later. At the rate the girl was going, she was going to drown in her own drool.

"Now this is what I'm talking about." Chi said in an awed tone, making her way over to the closest Cancer.

"I'm glad you like it." Sally laughed.

After their tours Sally had taken them to go get their uniforms, then they were ushered off to see Noin and Une briefly before they went back to their room, where they still lay, jet lagged and hungry, four hours later.

They were carrying on a conversation about past jobs when they heard laughter outside their door. The laughter stopped when the door opened and two young women about their age walked in. One had short, layered pink hair tipped with blue, where as the other had shoulder length straight black hair with orange streaks and dark blue tips.

"Um... Tenshi... did anyone tell you about getting new roommates?" The pink haired woman asked.

"Not that I remember..." Her companion answered, then turned her attention to the others in the room. "Um... who are you?"

"We're your new roommates!" Ally chirped.

"Since when do we have new roommates?" The pink haired woman questioned.

"Since about 10:00 this morning." Cleo answered.

"Oookay..." The women chorused.

"Well, I'm Kirou Otamajakushi..." The pink haired woman stated.

"And I'm Tenshi Akuma." The other woman said.

After the introductions were finished the group made their way down to the mess hall for supper.

"So who all have you met?" Tenshi asked, as she loosened her tie.

"Well, we've met Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Sally, Howard, Une, Noin, and I think that's it." Meiko told her.

"Have you heard of Hilde Schbeiker, Dorothy Catalonia, or Catherine Bloom?" Kirou asked.

"Never heard of them before." Ally said after a moment of thought. "Who are they?"

"Well, Hilde is Duo's girlfriend. She's a Preventer too, so you'll probably see her around a lot during meals and such. She works down in information retrieval and security. She's really nice. Cathy is actually Trowa's older sister. She's only here visiting while the circus she's part of takes their two-month break. Dorothy, oh what to say about Miss Catalonia. Well Dorothy actually is the Vice Foreign Minister's secretary, so she's always down here picking up stuff or talking with Lieutenant General Une, Sally or Captain Noin. She sticks around sometimes, apparently she knew Quatre during the war so they're always talking... with Trowa watching like a hawk mind you. Don't know why though." Kirou said all very quickly.

Cleo blinked as she tried to make sense of the woman's rapid speech. "So Duo has a girlfriend huh?" She mumbled to herself.

"Oh yeah." Kirou answered, having overheard her. "Duo and Hilde have been together for years, since the war at least." She told her as they entered the already crowded mess hall. "Now where are they? Ah there they are." She said when she spotted Heero's messy hair. "And away we go."

Kirou led them over the group of tables where the guys, Hilde, Catherine, Anne, Sally and Lucrezia were sitting.

"Hey Chi, more room over here." Duo called, spotting her.

Chi grinned and plopped down in the spot across from him. "Hey Duo." She greeted, then turned to Hilde. "You must be Hilde." She said, extending her hand. "Duo told me all about you today. All good I promise."

Hilde laughed. "That's good to know." She said, shaking the offered hand. "Duo was telling me about you lot as well, and I must say, I underestimated you when I heard you were coming. You're very talented for recruits."

"Recruit?" Chi asked. "I've been in the military since I was fourteen. I'm so far past recruit it's not even funny."

"In the military since I was fifteen for me." Hilde said with a wide grin.

"Excellent!" Chi exclaimed. "We can swap war stories."

"Sounds good to me."

"Hey Chi." Senshi said quietly. "I'm going to get something to eat. Do you want to come with me?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. We'll be back in a bit." She said getting up.

"Wait for me. I'm coming too." Ally said, getting up as well.

"So what have you been doing the last couple of years?" Senshi asked when they were in line.

"Well I went to military academy obviously. During the war I didn't do too much really. I worked a lot with refugees and stuff like that. After the war I went to high school, got my diploma and joined the Japanese military. The pay was okay, and I got extra because I was out doing mine searches and stuff, making the country inhabitable again. It wasn't bad. Not great though. Would have been better if I had my best friend." She said with a smile.

Senshi grinned and hugged her. "Oh man, I am so glad you're here. I thought you were dead."

"Phht, I'm not dying until I'm old and decrepit." Chi said grinning back. "Hey, Ally. Can you check and see if the food is edible, since you're the tallest and all."

"Not a problem." Ally agreed, and stood on her tiptoes to get a good look at what was being served. "Hey, it all looks really good. There is no indefinable food group there."

"Excellent."

"What can I get for you luv?" The young female server asked when Chi got to the front of the line.

"Fried rice and teriyaki chicken please." Chi ordered. Once she had her food she grabbed a drink and waited for Ally and Senshi to get their food.

When they made it back to the table, the first thing they noticed was that Tenshi and Kirou seemed to be going through convulsions. On closer inspection they realized the two women were just laughing.

"What's up with them?" Senshi asked when they sat down.

"Who knows." Hilde sighed. "One moment they were fine, then Kirou said something and they are what you see."

"Probably something gutter bound." Duo commented.

"That is without question." Hilde stated. "Those two can twist anything you say into something dirty."

"It's a talent." Kirou managed to gasp out before continuing to laugh.

"That reminds me of Katsuo." Chi mused.

"Oh god Katsuo. He was terrible." Senshi groaned.

"Katsuo, my brother... well former brother, is the dirtiest minded person I have ever met in my entire life." Chi told the others. "You could say broccoli and he would find some way to make it dirty. It was crazy."

"Former brother?" Hilde asked with a raised eyebrow.

"LONG story." Chi mutter.

"We have time." Duo stated.


	3. Chapter Two

New Beginnings 

Chapter Two

"Sen and I went to St. Gabriel's at the beginning of the war." She said quietly. "It was the school that was attacked by the Specials." She added.

Hilde eyed Duo, as if asking him how much these women knew about the Gundams, and if they knew whom their pilots were.

"Go on." Duo urged.

Chi bit her lip. "The attack sort of made me realize that I had to do something you know? A couple of my friends were injured and one or two even died in the attack. I couldn't let that happen again. I made a promise to do something about it." She said, pushing her rice around on her plate. "We were sent home after the attack, they needed to rebuild and the school just wasn't safe anymore. When I got home I told my parents of my plans. I wanted to join the Alliance, make a difference. I thought they would be proud of me. I thought wrong. I knew my father was a very traditional man, I just didn't realize how traditional. He forbid me to join the military told me that if anyone in our family were to join the military and 'fight the fight' it would be my older brother Katsuo. I refused to listen to him, and I told him that. He kicked me out, with just the clothes on my back I left. Katsuo found me later at the train station while I was waiting for my train to get in. He gave me some extra clothes and his savings. He told me that I couldn't call home, that father was planning on disowning me. That was the last time I saw him, I was fourteen." She said quietly.

"Shit." Tenshi said quietly. "That's fucked up."

Chi laughed. "Well thank you for that wonderful description Tenshi. Really it doesn't bug me too much. I was never close with my family, father never wanted me, and personally I think my mother fucked around on him. I mean look at me do I look remotely Japanese? I look more like Duo than I do Senshi."

"You have the nose." Cleo told her. "That sorta squished down nose."

Chi raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult Cleo."

"Neither." Cleo said stiffly. "It was an observation."

"So what was Military Academy like?" Ally asked, leaning forward to look at Chi.

"Hard and fast like a fuck in the back room of a club." Chi said seriously.

Duo choked on his drink when he heard that statement from such an innocent looking woman.

"Well said Chi!" Hilde cheered. "Military training is hell." She added to the shocked looking Ally. "Up at 4 in the morning every morning, after that you go for an, oh, 5 kilometer run on good days, more on bad days. After that you have 10 minutes to choke down terrible cafeteria food, then off to whatever training they have planned for that day until about ten o'clock. Then you have PT." She said with a shudder. "More running, less than in the morning, after that there's pushups, chin ups, and so on. Then you have 10 minutes at noon to eat. Then you're back to more training until about five in the evening, another 10 minutes to eat dinner, more PT for about two or three hours, after that you have free time, but people usually dropped into bed, dead asleep."

"Then you had to do it all over again the next day." Chi added helpfully. "I'm surprised I didn't develop football players shoulders."

"So what type of things did you study?" Meiko asked.

"Firearms handling, hand to hand combat, self defense, explosives, mobile suit handling..." Chi trailed off.

"Stealth and under cover work, that type of stuff." Hilde put in.

"That's crazy." Senshi murmured. "How long did it all take you?"

"Four months for me." Chi said. "They had to push everything faster cause the war was happening already and they needed us then."

"Two months for me. I joined right in the middle of the war, we didn't have the luxury of time to train."

"And that my dear is why you get you ass kicked when ever you step into a mobile suit." Duo teased.

Hilde flipped him off. "I'm a techie and a ground force soldier, not a pilot thank you very much."

"Yay for techies!" Kirou crowed.

"Amen girl." Hilde laughed.

"Ahem."

Hilde spun around and gave a weak smile at Lucrezia who was standing behind her, hands on hips, eyebrow raised. "Erm, hi Captain Noin."

"Hello Hilde." Lucrezia said with a smile. "I do believe you should all be on your way to your quarters, you have a full day."

"Yes Captain." They all chorused.

"Chi, Senshi, Cleo, Ally and Meiko. If you five would be so kind as to meet me down at the firing range tomorrow in fatigues at 0600 it would be much appreciated."

"Yes Captain." The women said together.

"Hilde, please show them where it is."

"Of course Captain."

"Oh and Tenshi, Kirou. You're in with the mobile suits tomorrow instead of in security."

"Yes Captain."

"Good, now go and get some sleep."

.............................................................................................................................................................................................

By five the next morning all the ladies in room 112 were up and trying to get ready before they were late. With seven women in the room and only three showers, it wasn't exactly easy. Cleo who had gotten up fifteen minutes earlier than the others was already ready, leaning against the wall and waiting for the other women to finish up.

"How the hell do you get ready so fast Cleo?" Chi asked as she walked out of the bathroom, pulling on her jacket.

Cleo smirked at her. "Discipline." She said simply. "Is everybody ready yet?" She asked as Chi quickly pulled her hair back into a ponytail and braided it.

"NO!!!" Ally cried, hopping up to the others on one foot, trying to get her boot tied.

"It's not like we can go anywhere yet, we need to wait for Hilde." Meiko stated, as she too tugged her hair up into a ponytail.

Cleo opened the door to see if Hilde was coming down the hall, to see Hilde standing in front of the doorway hand ready to knock. "Erm ready to go?" She asked.

"So what type of testing are we going to be going through?" Meiko asked as the group made their way down to the range.

"Firearms handling, obviously. You might be tested on Mobile Suit handling, mechanical know how, diplomacy, stealth and so on. You're basically being tested not only to see if you're fit for duty, but also where you would be best placed. Like me for example, the only diplomatic know how is to get Duo to take me out for dinner. There's no way that I could get politicians to listen to me, however I'm really good with computers and firearms, so I work in security. You follow?"

"It makes sense." Meiko agreed. "I personally wouldn't want to be the one out there fighting."

"It's highly unlikely that you will end up on an away team. They need diplomats here." Hilde answered, as they entered the range. "Watch Captain Noin, she's one hell of a shot." She whispered. The women were silent as they watched Lucrezia pop off three shots, getting them all almost dead center. "She was in OZ during the war." She said quietly. "Her and Zechs were the best they ever had."

Lucrezia noticed them then and smiled. "Right on time." She said after she had taken the headphones off. "Well welcome to our range ladies. We expect you to have an eighty percent shot, meaning eighty percent of what you aim at you hit. So if you're not up there yet, I suggest booking some time down here and practice. Right now however, I just want to see how good you are. Nekoheron you're up first."

"Um, Captain Noin? May I be dismissed?" Hilde asked. "I'm going to be late if I don't leave now."

"Of course Hilde, thank you for showing them down here."

"Not a problem Captain." Hilde said with a smile and left.

"Cleo?" Lucrezia asked, nodding towards the gun.

Cleo nodded, and shrugged off her jacket on her way. Carefully she slipped on the headphones and picked up the gun.

Chi watched in awe as Cleo's shots landed even closer to the bull's eye than Noin's.

"That's what you get when you're S.W.A.T." Senshi mumbled in her ear.

"How the hell are we supposed to match that?" Chi demanded in a harsh whisper.

"We don't, we just do our best." Senshi said calmly.

"Heiwa! You're up!" Lucrezia called.

"I am so screwed." Chi muttered.

"Now, say a colony leader wanted to separate from the ESUN, and threatened to declare war if the president refused, what would you do? Cleo?"

"Tell him he's an idiot, shoot him in the head and be done with it."

There was dead silence for a moment after that response.

"Er, no Cleo. You would try to reason with the leader that staying in the ESUN would provide benefits that he would not have as his own country."

"I like my way better."

"Hey Meiko?"

"Yeah Als?" Meiko asked.

"I think you just stepped on a house with your suit."

"Oops... well how am I supposed to know what's down there?"

"You can rotate your cameras."

"Oh..."

"Oh dear, this may take a while." Lucrezia said rubbing her forehead.

"Okay, I don't know if Hilde explained to you why we did all these tests today or not. So I'm going to tell you. In the Preventers we have many different sections, as in any military operation. Now of course not everybody is fit for every job, as you five so aptly proved to me today. So we separate the new recruits after testing them to see what they're best at and what job would suit them the best."

"I'm taking that as a hint that I won't be working with the mobile suits?" Meiko asked sheepishly.

"Not directly no." Lucrezia said with a small smile. "However, you do have a very good strategic mind, if we're in a bind we might just get you to plan out strategies and so on. Predominantly you will be working with Korwasky, assisting Lieutenant General Une when she goes to conferences, help her negotiate matters and such. Korwasky, you will be working with the mobile suits. So make sure you practice down at that simulator."

"Yes Captain."

"Heiwa, Midori and Nekoheron, you will working in the away teams. Meaning that if there is a group disrupting or threatening to disrupt the peace you will go in and investigate and work with your partner to get it under control with as little bloodshed as possible if you please."

"Who will our partners be ma'am?"

"I have to okay it with the Lieutenant General, but my plan is to have the three of you working with the guys. When not on assignment, or doing reports for the assignments you will be down working with the mobile suits. So what I said to Korwasky applies to you as well."

"Yes ma'am." The trio chorused.

"That's all for today, you're dismissed."


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Two months had passed since the five women had joined the Preventers, and Earth and space were still at peace. Things had been fairly quiet leaving the women a chance to get to know the people they were working with. It didn't take long to realize that Chi and Wufei were not to be left in the same room together without chaperones or else there would be carnage. They were just too different. Cleo and Heero got along well just fine, and Chi and Senshi seemed to fit in easily with the close-knit group Hilde, Duo, Kirou and Tenshi had formed.

Chi sat in the cockpit of an old Aries suit doing a system check, humming quietly to herself. Other than Heero and Howard she was the only one in the hangar. The mood was quiet, peaceful, "HEY CHI," completely ruined.

With a low growl, Chi got up and poked her head out of the open cockpit door and looked down. Standing directly below her, dresses in civvies and wearing a shit-eating grin was Duo. "Can I help you?"

"I'm running into town to get some stuffs, wondering if you wanted to come."

"Duo, as my presence in the hangar may have given away, I have a job and am doing it... unlike some people." She said, looking pointedly at him.

"Hey chill girl. I'm not slacking off. I was early shift today, got off three hours ago. I thought you had early today as well. We normally have the same shift."

"I switched with Ally this morning, she wasn't feeling too hot."

"Damn, so that's a no for going into town?"

"Unless you want to explain why I went AWOL, then yeah that's a no."

"Too bad. Do you want me to pick you up something?"

"Ooo, could you pick me up a bottle of coke?"

"No prob girly. I'll see you later."

"See yeah Duo." Chi called as she ducked back into the cockpit.

She went back to her job, quietly humming as continued the system check. She could hear the faint noise and see the sparks over where Heero and Howard, but other than that everything was quiet. She stopped humming when she saw a quick flash of fire. "What the fuck?" She demanded, poking her head out of the cockpit and looking around. Nothing seemed out of order, nothing was on fire. Drawing her eyebrows down in confusion, she ducked back into the suit. Maybe it was just a trick of the light. She had just sat down when a vision of an explosion and Duo's battered body flashed before her eyes.

Chi gasped and gripped the armrests. "No..." She moaned. "No, not again." Once her head cleared she hopped on the lift line and dropped to the ground.

"Chi are you okay?" Howard asked when he caught sight of the distressed woman. Chi just ignored him and bolted out of the hangar at top speed.

"Garage, he's going to be headed to the garage." She mumbled to herself as she ran across the compound.

She entered the garage just as Duo was starting up the SUV he and Hilde shared. "Duo! WAIT!" She yelled.

Duo grinned and rolled down the window. "Hey girly, you decided..." His grin automatically dropped when he saw her distresses look. "Hey what's wrong Chi?"

Chi ran up to the vehicle, tears brimming her eyes. "Duo, don't go into town. Wait until tomorrow. Please." She pleaded.

"Chi, what's going on?" Duo demanded.

"Just trust me. I can't explain, but if you go into town today you'll killed."

"Chi..."

"Promise me Duo!" Chi yelled.

"Hey, hey, calm down. I won't go."

Chi breathed a sigh of relief and dropped her head into her hands, taking a deep shuddering breath.

"Hey, you going to be okay?" Duo asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Chi replied distantly. "I... I need to get back to the hangar, Heero and Howard are probably wondering where I am."

"Let me walk you back."

"No I'm fine." Chi insisted. She hadn't even taken five steps before she crumpled into a heap on the floor.

"CHI!!!" Duo yelled, jumping out of the SUV and rushing to the fallen woman. "Come on Chi wake up. Wake up girly." He pleaded, holding the violently shaking woman off of the hard cement.

"Duo?" A voice asked.

Duo turned to see Quatre standing in the doorway looking at them with a peculiar expression. "Duo, what's going on?" He asked.

"I don't know!" Duo cried in frustration. "She just comes running in here begging me not to go into town and then collapses and I can't wake her up!"

"Come on get up. We'll take her to Sally."

"Sally isn't here. She went on a mission with Fei and some of the others."

"Hilde has medical training right?"

"Yeah..."

"Then we'll take her to Hilde. Come on get up. Freaking out isn't going to help her any."

Duo nodded and got to his feet careful not to jostle Chi too much.

They got odd looks as they made their way across the compound over to the main building, but Duo didn't care. He couldn't lose another friend, especially not someone he hadn't gotten the chance to know well. He was dimly aware of Quatre calling Hilde on her cell phone, but he was too busy trying to keep Chi from falling out of his arms, her body still going through violent tremors that were practically shaking her out of his arms.

They made it down to the medical wing and were immediately swarmed by doctors asking questions and trying to take Chi from Duo. Duo held on stubbornly, and only let go when they brought a gurney for him to place her down on.

"What happened to her?" One of the nurses asked.

"She just collapsed." Quatre told him, leaving out the part about her telling Duo not to go into town. They didn't need to know that, they wouldn't know what to do with that information.

"Has anything like this happened before?"

"Not that we know of, we've only known her for two months."

"Is she on any medications, or has any allergies?"

"I don't know."

The nurse shooed them out into the waiting room, clearly annoyed with their lack of knowledge.

Quatre resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at him.

They had been waiting a few minutes when Hilde came racing down the hall. "I'll let you know as soon as I know something." She promised and disappeared into the ER.

"Never a dull moment when the God of Death is around." Duo muttered.

"Stop that." Quatre hissed. "You know just as well as I do that this isn't you're fault."

Duo glared at his companion but didn't say anything. He knew better than to get Quatre mad. They sat for what seemed forever in a tense silence until Hilde banged through the ER doors.

"How is she?" Quatre asked, sitting up straighter.

"Well she's stopped shaking, but she has a fever. The doctors are working on getting that down right now. She should be fine, but they're all baffled about why it happened. She has no record of any illness that might have brought it on and she's not taking any medication."

"That's really weird. Do you think that they're going to do a drug test to see if that's the case?"

"God I hope that's not necessary. Anyways, I'm going to be staying with her until she wakes up so if you guys wanna go you're free. I'll give you a call if anything changes."

"Thanks Hilde." Duo said standing up an kissing her on the cheek.

"And Duo, it's not your fault so don't blame yourself okay?"

"Okay." Duo said quietly.

"Hey." Hilde whispered. "You did good, she's going to be okay."

Duo only nodded and left silently with Quatre.

When Chi woke up later it was to mind numbing pain in her head and blinding light.

"Fuck." She cursed. "I am not dead I refuse to be dead. I still have to many people to torment to be dead." She muttered opening her eyes to see Hilde hovering over her, "And you must be the angel of death?" She guessed.

"Nah, just your nurse. How you feeling?"

"Like shit thanks." Chi groaned. "Who ran over my head?"

"You hit it when you collapsed." Hilde explained as she elevated the top end of the bed. "Here you go." She said, handing Chi two aspirins and a glass of water.

"I correct myself, you're the Angel of Mercy." She said with a grin, and downed the asprin.

"So what happened?" Hilde asked. "Duo said, you came into the garage freaking out and then just collapsed. Wanna explain this to me?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, trust me." Chi muttered, sliding her legs off the gurney.

"Is it a medical thing? Cause if it is you have to put it in your medical records so we know what to do next time it happens."

"No it's nothing medical. Don't worry about it, there's nothing you can do." She said as she got up.

"Hey, plant your ass back on that gurney, you're not going anywhere until you have the doctor look you over again."

"Aw come Hilde. Can't you do it? I just want to get out of here."

"Not a chance. Wait until you have the doctor's okay, then you can go. Just be patient for another couple of minutes and I'll go get her okay."

"Fine." Chi sighed and flopped back on the bed.

* * *

"Look Hilde, I know the doctor told you to accompany me to my room, but is it really necessary? I'm not gonna pass out I promise, and I'm sure you have better things to be doing."

"Normally I would agree with you, but since said doctor is a higher rank than me, I'm going to do as she says so I don't get in shit. So you have to put up with me for another couple minutes. Now march, I'm not leaving you alone until I see your ass in your bed."

"You do realize I'm a higher rank than both you and the doctor."

"Doctors orders over rule yours, nice try."

"Well damn."

"No way..." Hilde whispered a minute later.

"Hmm? Ooo hottie." Chi murmured, spotting the tall blonde man Hilde was looking at.

Hilde just ignored her companion. "Relena!" She yelled.

It was only then that Chi spotted the shorter blonde woman beside the man she had been ogling. "Well I'll be god damned." She muttered when Relena Darlian turned around and grinned at Hilde.

"Hilde, it's good to see you again." Relena said, embracing her friend.

Chi just stood there, jaw somewhere in the vicinity of her waist. Man, what an odd group I've fallen into. She thought to herself as they rounded the corner. Lucrezia was at the opposite end of the hall, and Chi almost burst into giggles at the size her eyes went when she saw Relena and her companion.

"ZECHS!" She cried, and practically jumped on the man. "I missed you, I missed you, I missed you." She murmured, covering his face with kisses. "You're early, you weren't supposed to be back until the day after tomorrow."

"The conference didn't run as long as anticipated." Relena answered for her brother. "Hi Lucy."

Lucrezia smiled and gave her soon to be sister-in-law a small hug.

Finally she caught sight of Hilde and Chi. "Didn't the doctor put you on bed rest Midori?" She demanded.

Chi glared at Hilde who put her hands up in surrender. "It wasn't me!" She protested.

"Midori? Chi Midori?" Relena asked, looking at Chi curiously.

"I was wondering if you would recognize me Miss Darlian." Chi said with a smile.

"I almost didn't, you look much different now. What are you doing here?"

"I work here." Chi said plainly.

Hilde and Lucrezia looked back and forth between the women. "Did we miss something?" Lucrezia asked.

"Miss Midori and I used to go to school together." Relena told them simply. "The rumor going around was that she was dead."

"Not dead, just in exile. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a throbbing headache." Chi muttered, and slowly walked away.

"What's up with her?" Zechs asked, watching the retreating figure.

"We don't quite know. She freaked out earlier, ran after Duo into the garage and told him not to go into town then after he agreed she just passed out. Smacked her head on the cement. Luckily she doesn't have a concussion."

"Excuse me." Relena mumbled, and ran after Chi.

"May I speak to you?" She whispered, grabbing the younger woman by the arm.

"Whatever."

"It happened again didn't it?" Relena demanded.

"Look Miss Darlian, I have no clue what..."

"The same thing that happened when you knew there was going to be an attack on the school. The same thing happened then as what happened today. Don't lie to me Miss Midori, I can see through lies like I can see through air."

Chi glared at the woman before crossing her arms over her chest in a show of self-comfort. "Yeah, it was the same thing as at the school." She hissed. "Are you happy now?"

"What did you see?" Relena demanded. "If some harm can come to my friends I have the right to know."

"You have no right to know what goes on inside my head Vice Foreign Minister. Your friends are safe now, that's all that matters." Chi said quietly before turning on her heel and stalking away.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"Captain, we have new information from our spy at the base." A man in a crimson uniform stated silkily.

"Well what is it?" The only other person in the room, a middle aged man, demanded.

The younger man twitched slightly at the harsh voice, but made no other visible reaction. "It seems that the Preventers have recently began sending different teams on recon missions to many of our factories and bases, sir. As it stands sir, one of our factories is currently under observation. Factory ten I believe, it has been sent into silent mode and will not resume construction until the suspicion over it has been lifted."

"What other factories have been found?"

"Factories one, seven, fifteen and seventeen sir."

"And what of these recon teams? Do we know anything about them?"

"The two teams out right now consist of Lieutenant Colonel Sally Po, Sergeant Chang Wufei, Sergeant Trowa Barton and Corporal Senshi Heiwa. Po is a former Alliance Military doctor, and as you know, one of the creators of the Preventers. Unfortunately there is no information on Chang..."

"No information!?"

"No sir, there is also no information on Barton, Duo Maxwell or Heero Yuy."

"Have our mole dig deeper into their pasts."

"Of course sir. Heiwa is a former police officer, she has just recently joined the Preventers, accompanying Lieutenant Chi Midori, former Alliance Military, and Sergeant Cleo Nekoheron who joined at the same time."

"I want upfront information on anymore of the investigations, and information on anyone who has joined the Preventers in the last six months."

"Yes Captain." The young man saluted, and left the room.

"It is only a matter of time." The man whispered to the empty room. "Only a matter of time until my dreams are reality."

..............................................................................................................................................................................

When Chi woke up from the nap the painkillers had forced her into, the room was quiet, save for the ticking of the antique clock that sat on Ally's nightstand.

Looking groggily over at the clock, Chi flopped back down. 1900 hours, no wonder the room was so dark.

Groaning Chi hauled herself up and grabbed her boots. "Stupid bums." She muttered. "Going to go get food without me." Getting to her feet, she padded slowly to the end of her bed and pulled out a clean shirt from her footlocker before heading down to the mess.

Chi entered the mess and headed over to where she usually sat, the group was already there along with Relena and Zechs.

"Sleepy." Chi muttered, dropping into the seat next to Duo and put her head on his shoulder.

"It's about time you got up snoring beauty." Duo teased, pulling her ponytail softly. "You had us worried."

"Yeah, we almost had to restrain Sen when she found out." Hilde added.

"Sen's here? Where?" Chi asked, looking around sleepily.

"Right here silly." Senshi said from across the table from the other woman.

"Hey Sen-Chan." Chi mumbled. "Missed you." She yawned, putting her head on the table.

"Hey, hey." Duo said giving her a shake. "No more sleeping girly."

"Duoooooo." Chi whined. "Leave me alone!"

"Nope, time to wake up. Talk to Sen, do anything, but no more sleep related activities."

"Meanie." Chi muttered.

"Suck it up." Duo grinned.

Chi made a face at him and turned her attention to Senshi. "When did you get in?" She asked through a yawn, fighting the urge to drop her head back onto the table and fall asleep.

"About half an hour ago. It was just a simple recon mission, nothing too complicated."

"Except for dearest Senshi there, being quiet. Wufei must have told her to 'shut her infernal trap' about, oh what was it Trowa, a hundred times?" Sally teased.

"Pretty close." Trowa agreed with a small smile. "It was refreshing."

"It was annoying." Wufei groused.

"She's better now than she used to be." Chi informed them. "At least she was just talking and not singing... or saying the times tables in her sleep."

"Shut up Chi." Senshi glared.

"It's true and you know it."

"Okay this I must hear. Spill." Kirou demanded.

"Nothing to it really, just that Senshi recites the times tables in her sleep. And that will never cease to amuse me."

"Wow, lover of math are we Sen?" Ally giggled.

"No. I hate the stuff." Senshi pouted. "But it was being drilled into my head so hard that that was all I thought about." There were stifled snickers around the table at her declaration. "Oh shut up."

"Someone close the fecking blinds." Chi whined when she woke up the next morning to bright autumn sunlight shining into her eyes. "Please?" She added hopefully when no one answered her plea.

Heaving a sigh when no one answered her after a minute, she hauled herself out of bed and looked around the room, spotting Meiko sitting on her own bed on the other side of the room. "Meiko..." She said after a moment. "Why didn't you close the blinds?"

"Can't talk, working on a speech." Was the only thing she muttered without even looking up from her laptop.

Chi just looked at her for a moment before shaking her head and making her way into the bathroom.

"WE! Need to do something tonight." Chi declared when she stormed into the common area in the female barracks half an hour later. "It is a Saturday and we are young."

"Chi is missing the clubbing scene." Senshi snickered.

"No, Chi is missing the sexy guys that come along with the clubbing scene." Chi stated, dropping down on the couch next to her best friend, and looking around at the others. "You guys in?"

"I know a pretty good one in Soho." Kirou spoke up from her spot on the floor. "Good patrons, you don't have to worry about the normal shit that you would find at clubs."

"Says the former Underground Raver." Tenshi muttered.

"Yeah and even then I wasn't into the shit. I like my job thanks."

"Moving on!" Chi yelled, drawing glares from the other assorted women in the room. Chi just glared back. "I'm going to take that as you being up for it Otama?" Chi asked.

"Count me in Chika." Kirou agreed, giving her a thumbs up.

"Good-o. Tenshi, Sen?"

"We're in." Senshi agreed.

"Yeah, I need to get laid." Tenshi agreed.

Chi just rolled her eyes. "Cleo, you in?" She asked, spotting the other woman in the corner of the room, so far back in the shadows that it was almost like she was trying to merge herself with them.

"I don't think so."

"PLEASE!!!" The other four chorused loudly earning even more glares from the other women.

"Fine! FINE! Just shut the hell up."

Chi grinned at them. "Be ready at eight, I must go search out other people to drag with us."

"Make sure you get Duo and Hilde. It's not a party without them." Kirou called at her retreating back.

"We have victory!" Chi exclaimed, bouncing into her room.

"Who all did you get?" Ally asked sitting up. "You only had Tenshi, Kirou and Senshi when you got me."

"All the girls except the Lieutenant General, she's doing something with Marimaya tonight. Heero and I had a glaring contest that lasted about an hour until Relena told him he was coming to protect her, Duo was no problem, Trowa apparently likes the night life, go figure. Quatre I sweet talked into it, Wufei is being dragged physically by Sally and Zechs said he would come as long as I promised not to replace his message announcer thing on his e-mail with me singing." She stated proudly.

"Wow, you're good." Meiko admired.

"No, she's just annoying." Cleo commented. Chi just flipped her the bird.

"I am a fucking goddess. Admit it Cleo."

"No."

"Admit it."

"No!"

"Admit it or I'll tell all the guys that you were having an erotic dream last night."

"I was not!"

"Oh so you don't sound like this when you're pre-orgasmic." Chi asked, and proceeded to do a shockingly accurate recreation of Cleo the previous night.

Cleo felt her face go red. "You're a goddess Chi Midori."

"THANK YOU!"

"She worries me." Ally whispered to Senshi.

"I fucking love her." Senshi managed between bouts of laughter.

TBC


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"Chi, can you grab my mobile please?" Kirou asked, shifting her butt a bit.

Chi nodded and grabbed the ringing phone out of the smaller woman's pocket. "Otama's phone." She greeted.

"Chi, why do you have Kirou's phone?" Lucrezia asked.

"Cause I'm special." Chi grinned. "What can I do for you Lucy?"

"Any clue how much further? I have a murderous Heero Yuy and a pouting Zechs Merquise in here, they're starting to annoy me."

"Oi, Kirou. How much further?" Chi asked holding up the phone so Lucrezia could hear the answer.

"About fifteen minutes." Kirou told them.

"Catch that?"

"Yeah I got it."

"Good good! We'll see you there Lucy."

"Ta Chi."

"Bye."

"So anyways, back to what we were talking about before." Tenshi stated. "What was the real deal with the recon mission Sen?" She asked.

"It doesn't look too good." Senshi said quietly. "They have heavy armaments from what I could see, semi-automatic weapons, explosives, guards with uniforms, the whole lot. What really has me worried is that it went totally silent about an hour after we showed up. I think they know that we were there."

"This isn't good." Chi said quietly. "Anybody wanna bet we're going to be fighting a new war pretty soon?"

"Oh don't even joke about that Chi." Senshi pleaded. "I can't go through that, not again."

"Then why did you join the Preventers?" Kirou asked, turning in her seat to look at Senshi.

"KIROU! Watch the road!" Senshi and Chi yelled as she swerved over the line.

"Jesus Christ!" Chi wailed. "Are you trying to kill us?"

"No, just wanted to see Senshi while I talked to her."

"Oh for the love of..." Senshi muttered. "You worry me Otama. You really do. And to answer your previous question, I joined the Preventers to help behind the scenes, not to be on the front lines. With the group we've fallen into I have a good feeling that if there is another war then we'll be on the front lines."

"If it does come to that, will you stick around and fight." Tenshi asked.

"Of course!" Senshi exclaimed. "I may not want to do it, but I'm not a coward."

"You can't have bravery without cowardess." Kirou said quietly.

"Just the same as you can't have good without evil and peace without war." Chi added.

"Kirou..." Sally began.

"Yes?"

"You failed to mention how popular of a club this is. The line must be backed up down the block."

"So?"

"So, we're never going to get in." Hilde answered.

Kirou gave them a mischievous little smile. "Oh ye of no faith, follow me." She said, and turned on her heel heading toward the back of the club.

"There's that sinking feeling." Duo muttered, shaking his head.

"Just come on, she won't do anything stupid with all of us here." Hilde said, grabbing his hand and following after Kirou.

When they rounded the corner, Kirou was seen on the back of a very tall, muscular, bald black man, pretending to shine his head.

"She's going to get us killed." Quatre whimpered.

"No she's not." Tenshi chirped. "That's Bubbles. He's a friend of ours." She stated proudly.

"Bubbles?" Relena squeaked.

Tenshi rolled her eyes and walked up to the pair. "Can we go in?" She asked.

"I'll let you in." Bubbles said in a deep booming voice. "But you have to pay the cover tonight."

"Fair enough." Kirou agreed, and stuffed some bills down his shirt.

Bubbles rolled his eyes, reached back, grabbed the back of her neck and lifted her off of him. "Get inside before I change my mind."

Kirou grinned and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks Bubs."

"Damn." Anne cursed quietly. The camera that Sally and her team had placed on their recon mission was working perfectly. Unfortunately that was the problem.

The monitor that the camera was attached to was showing her things she didn't want to see, not so soon after the last war.

"Can't we ever have peace?" She whispered, watching as the trucks and mobile suit carriers entered the base. "Can't we ever have a normal life?"

"Anne?" A small voice whispered. "Are you okay?"

Anne turned around to see her adopted daughter standing in the doorway. "I'm fine Maya, just some things are happening."

"Another war?" Marimaya asked.

"Not yet, but soon if this recon surveillance is the judge of anything." Anne said quietly. "I might not be home as much as I have been."

"That's okay. Just make sure this doesn't extend."

"I will Maya, I will."

"Can I get a Fuzzy Navel, Alabama Slammer, Sex on the Beach, two Mudslides and a Screwdriver please?" Kirou asked the bartender.

"That's a lot of alcohol, sure you can handle it sweetheart?"

Kirou fought the urge to roll her eyes. "They're not all for me. Can you just make the drinks please?"

"Sure thing love."

"Prat." Kirou muttered under her breath.

"Having trouble with the bartender Kirou?" Trowa asked.

"Nah, he was just being a prat." She explained. "Anything strike your fancy?" She asked when she noticed him looking at the bottles behind the bar.

"A Piece of Ass sounds good right about now." Trowa replied quietly.

"Plenty of ass around here." Kirou assured him with a wink. "Right no joking about Asses." She stated when he glared at her. "Not taking it to well huh?"

"How would you take it if you could no longer touch your lover, hug him, kiss him, hold him, and yet you still have to see him every day."

"Hey, hey." Kirou said standing on her tiptoes to give him a hug. Trowa didn't move. "I thought you and Quat agreed to break it off."

"We did. It just wasn't working anymore..."

"But that doesn't make it hurt any less does it?" Kirou asked.

Trowa just gave a non-committal grunt.

"Here you go love." The bartender said sliding a tray of drinks over to her.

"Thanks."

"Can I get a Mojito please?" Trowa ordered.

"Sure thing sir."

"Oh sure he doesn't question you." Kirou pouted.

"Are you sure there's nothing non-alcoholic here?" Quatre asked.

"Of course there is." Duo answered. "If we're going to let you have it is another story completely."

"You're at a club Quatre, not some stuffy function, loosen up, have a drink. You don't have to get drunk, in fact I advise against it."

"You guys can't make him drink if he doesn't want to." Senshi scolded.

"We're not going to force him Sen, that's against the law."

"Here you go Quat. One Iced Tea." Sally said plopping the drink down on the table in front of Quatre.

"Thank you Sally."

"No problem cutie. Drink up."

"Woman, did you just do what I think you did?" Wufei asked when Sally sat down next to him.

"I have no clue what you're talking about Wufei." Sally said with a small smile.

"That is not a normal Iced Tea."

"Of course it isn't, it's a Long Island Iced Tea." She said with a grin.

"Sally..."

"Wufei..." Sally mimicked. "Lighten up, it's not going to kill him. It'll be good for him to loosen up."

"This from a doctor."

"I'm not suggesting he become an alcoholic Wufei."

Wufei just glared at her.

"Oh for the love of, just drink your drink and don't spoil my night Chang."

"You gave him alcohol didn't you?" Trowa asked an hour later.

"I did nothing of the sort." Duo defended as he watched Chi and Quatre dance.

"Bullshit."

"Seriously Trowa, I didn't. Neither did Chi. Sally did."

"Hn."

"Oh don't give me that shit Tro. What the hell is wrong with you tonight? You've been moody since we got here."

"Have they been like that all night?" Trowa asked, motioning to Chi and Quatre.

"And Sherlock comes to the heart of the matter. Trowa Barton Is jealous of a girl. Dude, his door doesn't swing that way. Your should know."

"I know that he's Bi."

"Ah, well I guess his door does swing that way. Look man, he still loves you. He always has and he always will. But you two are no longer an item, he's moved on. You need to too. Look go find a hot guy and do whatever it is you do. Hey you can even use my jeep, just... start living again okay buddy?"

"Keys?" Trowa asked.

"Make sure to bring them back." Duo ordered, fishing them out of his jacket pocket.

"What time is it?" Ally asked many hours later.

"Too early, or too late. Whichever way you look at it, it's time to go." Sally stated, hauling Ally out of her chair. "Wufei, are you good to drive? Because I don't think I am."

"Woman..."

"Finish that and I'll have you on graveyard shit surveillance for 3 months, got me Chang?" Sally warned.

"I was going to say I needed your keys."

"Oh... sorry."

"Wait, we can't go yet." Quatre stated.

"Why not?" Ally whined.

"Trowa isn't here."

Just as Quatre said that Trowa walked up to the group and over to Duo.

"Thanks." He whispered handing Duo the keys.

"No problem man, but keep the keys, I need you to drive."

"Now can we go?" Ally asked.

TBC


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"Guh, I'm never drinking again." Chi muttered when she cracked her eyes open the next morning only to be greeted a stabbing pain in her brain. With a groan she rolled over and closed her eyes again.

"That's what you said last time." A cheerful voice chirped.

Chi opened her eyes to glare at Senshi who was sitting on the end of her bed. "I hate you and your non-drinking, morning person ways." She whined, and slowly sat up. "Woo, pretty colours."

"Aw poor Chi." Senshi laughed. "Teaches you to drink too much."

"Senshi..." She said looking up at her best friend.

"Yes?"

"Shut up." Chi growled and hauled herself out of bed to get changed.

"You're going to want your work dress uniform." She stated when she saw Chi reaching for a t-shirt. "The Lieutenant General wants to see us at noon."

Chi groaned and resisted the urge to throw herself on her bed and just go back to sleep. "But today is my day off." She whined while she grabbed a dress shirt and her uniform tie.

"We are but mere pawns my dearest friend. She says jump, we say how high."

"Evil people." Chi muttered.

"Yes Chi. Everyone is out to get you."

"When did you get to be such a smart ass?"

"Oh from a childhood friend of mine. She was the best at it, and I always learn from the best." Senshi smirked.

"You better be talking about me."

Senshi rolled her eyes. "Go get a shower Midori, maybe it'll wake you up enough to make you brain function at least a bit."

"Love you too Sen-babe." Chi called over her shoulder as she headed into the bathroom.

"Captain."

"What is it Griffin?"

"The Preventers have found more of our factories, Sir. Fortunately they have not yet found our main factory of operations. However, our spy at the Preventer Base has just informed me that they will be sending in troops to the factories they do know about under the order to destroy them.

"They seem to be staying with the new recruits that I informed you about just the other day, as well as prominent agents within the organization. Our spy tells us that the agents going in will be Chi Midori, Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy, Kirou Otamajakushi, Lucrezia Noin, Cleo Nekoheron, Zechs Merquise, Sally Po, Senshi Heiwa, Trowa Barton and Chang Wufei. Accompanying these people will be a backup troop of thirty people." Griffin informed the Captain who had a contemplative look on his face.

"Repeat the male names."

"Yes sir. The males are Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton, Chang Wufei and Zechs Merquise."

The Captain smirked at the younger man. "As I suspected. The Preventers have the Gundam Pilots."

"Sir?" Griffin asked in a panicked voice. "Our soldiers can't take the Gundam pilots on. They're not trained well enough."

"Well then if they don't want to die I suggest that they get trained enough. Contact the spy, I want to know when and where the attack will be so that we're prepared."

"She's already informed me it's going to be the Kenya factory sir." Griffin stated stiffly.

"Very good. You're dismissed Sergeant."

"How's the speech going?" Quatre asked, leaning over Meiko's shoulder to peek at the writing on her laptop screen.

"Pretty good." Meiko said, smiling up at the blonde. "My last English teacher would be proud."

"Why, pray tell me, am I up at ten in the morning on my day off?!" Chi demanded loudly, making both Quatre and Meiko jump.

"Good morning Chi, how are you?" Quatre commented sarcastically when he looked up.

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"No not really."

"Didn't think so. So can anybody tell me why I'm up so bloody early?"

"Like I told you back in the room, it's because we have a meeting with the Lieutenant General at noon. I think it's a mission."

"If it is, it's a big one." Quatre commented. "Duo mentioned that all of the main teams as well as Zechs and Noin have been called to the meeting."

"Wow, to quote Duo, there's that sinking feeling." Senshi muttered.

"You have it too." Quatre asked.

"Had it since the recon mission. Something big is about to go down."

"I don't like this." Meiko said quietly as she saved her file, not able to concentrate on it anymore.

The others just nodded silently, the bright atmosphere from moments before having disappeared.

By noon sharp Chi, Cleo, Senshi, Kirou, Tenshi Lucrezia, Sally and all the guys not including Quatre were sequestered in the main briefing room waiting for Anne to show up.

"Sorry I'm late." The woman said when she entered the room five minutes later. "There was a problem at Marimaya's school that I had to take care of before I could come here."

"Quite alright Ma'am. No need to apologize." Lucrezia, who was almost as close to the young girl as Anne, commented. "May I ask what this is about however?"

Anne sat down at the head of the table and leaned forward on her elbows. "Last night, while you all were out I was watching the video feed being received from the camera that Sally and her team had placed earlier that day. What I saw was not promising."

"How so?" Sally asked.

"Mobile Suit transport trucks, two ton flat bed trucks laden down with supplies, uniformed guards with semi-automatics, and people in uniforms wandering all over the place. This is not the first factory that we've seen this at, and I highly doubt it will be the last. These people are not the minor rebel factors that we have been dealing with in the past five years. They are the real thing, and they want a war."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Chi questioned, leaning back in her chair, nibbling nervously at her thumbnail.

"We strike before they get any stronger, and we hit their biggest factory. Focus their attention on that while we, hopefully, manage to destroy the rest of their factories."

"We're going to be hitting the one in Kenya first." Sally stated. "That's the largest one found as of yet."

"How many people?" Heero asked.

"You twelve, as well as a back-up force of fifty. Knowing the type of work you lot do, you hopefully won't need them." Anne commented, glancing at the guys.

"That's a compliment from her." Kirou whispered in Senshi's ear.

"Noin, Zechs. I'm trusting you two to oversee the operation. Don't disappoint me."

"Of course not ma'am." Lucrezia stated.

She and the others stood and saluted before Anne left the room.

Once she was gone they all dropped back into their chairs.

"Well fuck." Duo muttered.

"Okay, let's get this figured out now while we're all here so I don't have to hunt you down later." Zechs muttered pulling up the digital map of the Kenya factory that was in the Preventer files.

"The factory is surrounded by hills on three sides, not large ones, but hills nonetheless. We can use these to our advantage. We're going to need three snipers, one on each hill."

"I suggest Heero, Duo and Cleo." Lucrezia commented.

"No, Duo needs to be in the main infiltration force. His talents are better put there."

"Do I get a say in this?" Duo asked.

"No." Zechs smirked. "Midori, you okay for sitting long periods of time and doing nothing?"

"If I have to it's no problem." Chi answered.

"Right to Heero I want you on the south hill, Cleo on the west and Chi on the east."

"Duo, it's time to put your wartime skills to work." Zechs said, making another note in the book before him, and Kirou you're going to help him. You two along with five men from the backup troops are going disable this building right here." He said circling the building with his pen. Trowa, Senshi and Tenshi, you along with five men are going to take this building. Sally, Wufei, you have the main building you know what you need to do. Lucy and I will take another five men and take this building here."

"That sounds good to me." Lucrezia agreed.

The others just nodded. Chi continued to nibble on her thumbnail.

"Now all we have to do is wait." Trowa said quietly.

TBC


End file.
